I'll Help You, If You Help Me
by JellyBeanBubbles
Summary: "If you can protect me from my bullies until graduation, I promise you that I will get you to pass all your classes with flying colours and graduate too" -Where a deal between two strangers turns into something more. High school AU 2-shot, slight GaLe coz they're just too cute XP. My only contribution to NaLu week XD, rated T for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**I'LL HELP YOU IF YOU HELP ME**

 **CHAPTER 1**

 **Hey all, this is my only contribution to NaLu week, it's something I've been working on for a while so I hope you'll like it. This is a 2-shot, so look out for the final chapter tomorrow XD**

 **I dedicate this to McGardenManiac who chose this fic, zooeyandvincy who gave me a heart-warming review, and my twin RockingCas12 just coz XP**

 **Enjoy!**

High school has always been known to have its ups and downs, and they would always be different for different people.

Some might have problems with classes, others with making friends, and there was always the so-called social food-chain that played a role as well.

For these two people though, they were not satisfied with their downs of High school, or High school in general, but they had no idea how to change it.

Until they met each other in a fateful encounter that would change their lives in ways they never even imagined possible…

Lucy opened her locker after a long, stressful day of class, there was just something about having history class at the end of the day that always left her drained.

She didn't particularly have any problems with the class, it was just her teacher had a tendency to ramble about crap he saw when he was their age.

As she reminisced about her last class she failed to notice the sheer amount of paper that was shoved into her locker and came tumbling down on her and the floor. You'd think with the fact that Lucy was a beautiful girl that they were love-letters or something along those lines.

Well, they weren't

 _Go die!_

 _Slut_

 _Please slit your wrists_

 _I'll bet the only reason you get good grades is coz you're fucking the teacher!_

 _Nobody would care if you dropped dead right now_

Lucy sighed in annoyance. Ever since she had transferred to this school last year this had been the norm for her.

So she was blonde, had a figure most models would die for, and was smarter than most people, why was that a crime?! Not to mention she's also a virgin, not that it's anyone's business in the first place.

She tried to keep her reactions to these things to a minimum, but they were affecting her mentally, if only slightly. Nobody likes to be told that they should die, and she felt like nobody had the right to dictate who deserved to live or die.

She huffed and knelt down to pick up the mess in front of her locker; coz if she didn't the janitor would give her death glares for weeks. Just then the locker next to hers was opened.

Natsu opened his locker with a rough tug, his day had sucked since he woke up at 10am. Once he finally got to school he got called into the Headmasters office and was scolded for missing about three classes, and that wasn't even the worst part. No, the worst part was when he got a written letter for his father saying that if he didn't improve his grades he would have to repeat his senior year. Natsu loved his dad and all, but if he ever read that letter Natsu would need to find a new place to live.

He glared at the letter angrily. _'Stupid Headmaster, stupid grades, and stupid letter'_ he thought angrily.

Lucy had finally managed to gather all the hate notes neatly off the floor and stood up to close her locker. How many people arranged their hate mail neatly only to throw it away later? She felt like such a weirdo.

She checked to make sure she had everything she needed from her locker and once she was sure she did she slammed it shut.

But at the same time Natsu; her locker-neighbour, slammed his shut as well.

Shocked by the unexpected slam they turn and look at each other with mild curiosity. Lucy had never actually seen her locker neighbour before, and Natsu hadn't seen this girl before either.

Lucy was not gonna lie; this guy was pretty hot, and to top it off his hair was cherry blossom pink, which just happened to be one of her favourite colours. He seemed like he was pretty built too-

' _Oh My God! This is that delinquent guy everyone talks about!'_ thought Lucy in shock.

See, Natsu was one of this schools delinquents, who was known for being a pyromaniac and liked to answer problems with his fists instead of his head, apparently he had even been suspended once for beating up a guy so bad his bloodied body had left a mark on the school wall; sounds like something that came directly from an anime. He was constantly being reprimanded by the student council president; Erza Scarlet, which doesn't sound scary until you see that her version of reprimanding is literally beating the school rule book into your head; and it's a pretty thick book, like dictionary thick. So you really don't want to be on her bad side.

A real bona-fied badass if she ever saw one, and this was the first time she had actually seen him in person.

Natsu didn't know many people in this school, there were only a few people whose names he would even bother remembering; like the scary redhead who tried to shove the school rule book in his head through his ear every time he pissed her off. He shuddered involuntarily at the memory. Then there were the guys he would hang with during lunch and very rarely after school like Gajeel, Jellal, and even Gray, who he considered more of a rival than a friend.

So of course he wouldn't know who this blonde haired girl was next to his locker, but he was genuinely surprised he had never noticed her even once. She was extremely pretty; she had one hell of a figure, her skin was milky and it looked like it felt like silk, she had a gorgeous face and her blonde hair was long and shiny. But the best part of her were her eyes; they were a light shade of brown, and Natsu felt that if he looked into them for too long they would be able to dig into the deepest parts of his soul.

He was starting to think he should show up to school more often if he got to see this pretty face every day.

Lucy suddenly felt nervous under his gaze and looked down. Just then she noticed the piece of paper in his hands, and since she was curious she tried to skim the contents.

Natsu's eyes were roving down Lucy's figure, so sue him she was hot and he's a teenage guy with hormones, it's only natural right? When he noticed the papers she held loosely in her hands.

His eye's widened when he saw the contents on the paper, what did this girl do to deserve so much blatant hate mail? She seemed like a nice person, what was wrong with the people in this school?!

When he looked up to her face he noticed that her eyes were glued to his hand and it looked like her eyes widened after a bit too. He glanced at his hand and finally realised what she was looking at; his warning letter.

Embarrassed he quickly stuffed the letter in his pants pocket. He glares at her for reading it clicks his tongue in annoyance and walks away.

Well it wasn't like he wasn't doing the same when he read the papers in her hands, but still, she crossed a line.

Just as he was about to walk out he felt a snag on the back of his shirt.

He looked back over his shoulder and saw the blonde girl, she was holding his shirt and staring at him with a look of pure determination. He rose a brow in curiosity and wondered what she wanted.

"U-um, I-I think we can help each other out" she said nervously.

Now she had his full attention.

"Hah?" he asked as he turned to face her fully. What did she mean by that?

Lucy took a deep breath to calm her nerves, she knew she would be asking for something crazy and she was worried about how he would react, but she felt like this was a golden opportunity that she just couldn't pass up.

"Look, as you can see I have a little problem with bullies, and it looks like you have a problem too" she said while crossing his arms as she slowly gained more confidence.

Natsu scowled, she was implying the letter, where was she going with this? Was she gonna try and blackmail him or something?

"If you can protect me from my bullies until graduation, I promise you that I will get you to pass all your classes with flying colours and graduate too" she said strongly, her eyes gleaming with determination.

Natsu had to wait a few seconds to absorb what she just said. Did she really mean that?

He weighed his options; either tell his dad; Igneel about his failing grades and risk getting kicked out… or he could let this chick teach and prevent him from repeating a year while stopping her bullies at the same time…

Well… it wasn't like he had any better options…

* * *

There were a few things Lucy had come to expect when walking her way to school. There would be the occasional group of girls who would snigger and mock her just loud enough for her to hear but 'soft' enough to give the illusion of a whisper. There was even one time when someone had actually taped a 'kick-me' sign on her back; which many people enjoyed.

But nothing had prepared her for what she saw in front of her locker that day.

Leaning against her locker with the deadliest glare she had even seen was Natsu Dragneel. It was like he was emitting an aura that just screamed danger if anyone got too close.

Lucy's eyes widened at this, how long had he been standing there? Was he doing this because of the notes he saw yesterday?

She was so deep in shock she forgot how to move, when his head suddenly turned in her direction and they made eye contact. He nodded his head in acknowledgement which finally made her jump out of her stupor.

She walked towards him to greet him.

"Sup" he said with a yawn; he didn't remember the last time he woke up this early… maybe middle school?

"H-How long have you been standing here?" she asked in bewilderment.

Natsu moved to the side so that she could access her locker and shrugged his shoulders in indifference.

"I aint all that familiar with your bullies schedules' so I got here around… seven-ish?" he snickered a little.

"You shoulda seen some of the faces those guys pulled when they saw me standing here… it was so worth waking up early, they just about pissed themselves" he said with a laugh as he wiped a tear from his eye.

Lucy's mouth was agape; while he did agree to her deal she never thought he would take it this seriously, she was actually very impressed.

"I-uhm…" she was at a total loss for words, she was just too surprised.

"You gonna keep your mouth open weirdo or are you gonna open your locker?" he asked with a smug grin; her face was hilarious.

Lucy snapped her mouth shut and scowled at him "You're the last person I want calling me weird Cherry-head" she said with a huff while putting in her locker combination.

"Oh, it makes jokes! Well at least I know you have backbone now" he said with a cheeky grin.

Lucy puffed out her cheek in annoyance and opened her locker to get her books. And for once she didn't have to worry about an avalanche of notes falling on the floor, in fact there weren't any at all.

Lucy's eyes widened at this and she sent a surprised look at Natsu, who also glanced in her locker to check for notes. He grinned smugly at what he saw and crossed his arms over his chest with pride.

"Chicken-shits, too wussy to get near me I see" he said proudly.

Lucy smiled softly at this, even though this was a small start she still felt happy. Looks like asking Natsu for help was a great idea after all.

Natsu glanced from the locker to Lucy's face and saw her smiling face. He was a bit taken aback; she was actually super-cute when she smiled. Suddenly feeling nervous from her gaze he turned his head away from her and coughed nervously.

"W-Well hurry up already, I aint gonna stand here all day waiting like an idiot for you" he said as he made his way towards the classrooms.

Lucy giggled softly at his reaction.

' _So he has a shy side to him huh?'_

* * *

In all honesty Lucy wasn't quite sure what to expect from Natsu when it came to her bullies, especially considering that they were in different classes. Since her grades were so high she was in the 'A' class, while Natsu was stuck down in the 'E' class. Some moron once gave Natsu the nickname E.N.D, to mock his intelligence. Clearly the guy wasn't smart enough to know when to keep his mouth shut; he ended up with multiple facial fractures and a few broken ribs.

Lucy finally made it to her class, fully expecting Natsu to bid her goodbye and go wherever he felt, but he stayed by her side as she walked in.

Lucy sighed as she took in the state of her desk; someone had decided to dump their garbage all over it this time.

' _Well at least they didn't hide my desk again, it's such a pain trying to look for it and then bring it back'_ she thought with a heavy sigh.

The people in her class were sniggering, like they had accomplished some great prank or something. Lucy rolled her eyes at this _'Well they say small things amuse small minds'_ she thought bitterly.

Natsu looked over Lucy's shoulder and saw what he figured was her desk, covered in trash. He felt his eye twitch in annoyance. He glanced down at her and noticed she had a tired expression on her face, he wondered how many times she's had to put up with this until now.

Natsu huffed in annoyance and walked past Lucy to stand in front of the class. It suddenly became eerily quiet and Lucy knew the whole class's attention was focused on him.

' _Is that Dragneel?!'_

' _What's he doing at school?'_

' _Did he walk in with Heartfilia?'_

And those were only some of the whispers she could pick up. She wondered what he was planning to do up there in front, it wasn't like he could stay in class with her until school was over, the teacher's wouldn't tolerate it, and he couldn't afford another suspension at this point either.

Natsu crossed his arms over his broad chest, taking a deep breath he fixed his most lethal glare on the students, making them pale in fear of what he might do.

"Listen up you fucked up pricks. That girl over there-" he said as he pointed at Lucy without taking his gaze off of them.

"-Is under my protection. So if I find that she's being harassed in any way, or even if you look at her wrong, I will find you, and you'll wish you ended up like the guy I hospitalized. We clear?!" he yelled threateningly.

Convinced that his threat was undeniably true, they all furiously nodded their heads in fear and backed away from her to maintain a 'safer' distance.

"Good" he said with a nod, and made his way put the classroom while walking past Lucy; who had her mouth open in shock.

"Oh, and the shithead who put all that stuff on her desk… I suggest you clean it up right now. I don't care if you're a chick or a kid I will kick your ass" he said as he glared back to the class.

A scream was heard, and suddenly Lucy's desk was cleaner than on her first day.

* * *

"Are you out of your mind Lu!?"

Lucy left class and was on her way to the library for lunch when she was tackled by her only friend in school; Levy McGarden.

Levy was pretty short for a girl her age. Her size coupled with her slender figure have led many to think that she was a middle school student much to her chagrin.

Her shoulder length blue hair was pulled back with an orange bandana, and her hazel eyes shone with concern for her best friend's safety.

"I don't see why you're so freaked out about this Lev. I thought you'd be happy that people are leaving me alone now" said Lucy in confusion as they continued towards the library.

"While that part does make me happy, I'm just not so sure about the person making it happen. He's not exactly known for being gentle Lu, what if he tries to hurt you?" asked Levy in concern.

"I told you Lev, I made a deal with him, and he can't afford to hurt me while I'm the one helping him with his grades. Plus I don't think he's that kind of person, if anything I think he's just… misunderstood" said Lucy with a thoughtful look.

Levy stared at Lucy with suspicion, it was making Lucy a little uncomfortable but Levy eventually sighed in defeat and looked ahead.

"Well if you say so, just don't blame me if you get kidnapped by him or something crazy" she said with a small grin.

Lucy laughed at this and locked her arm with Levy's "Oh don't be silly, I'm sure he's not gonna do something like that" she said with a smile.

"Found ya"

"Kyaaa!" screeched Levy and Lucy in fear at the sudden voice behind them.

Both turning swiftly to the source of the voice they were both surprised to find an amused Natsu looking at them, or more specifically Lucy.

"What the hell Natsu!? You scared the crap out of us!" yelled Lucy angrily as she held a hand over her heart. Levy was trying to regulate her breathing back to normal.

"Yeah yeah, quit your squealing. Let's go" he said as he grabbed Lucy by the wrist and dragged her off.

"Eh? Wha-? Bu-? Huh?" she said in shock as she just let Natsu drag her away.

"Lucy!" yelled Levy as she stuck her hand out in Lucy's direction with a shocked expression.

"Levy!" yelled Lucy returning the gesture, comical tears running down her cheeks.

"Man, you are such a weirdo" muttered Natsu as he dragged Lucy away somewhere.

"You're the last person I want to hear that from!"

* * *

Lucy had never been more uncomfortable in her entire life, and she once had her butt groped by an eighty year old man.

Right after she was 'kidnapped' by Natsu, he dragged her up to the schools roof where she was met with the rest of his friends who were just as confused by her presence there as she was.

Then Natsu had the audacity to look at her like she was the crazy one and say "You're eating lunch with us from now on, duh" like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He didn't even bother explaining anything to his friends who also looked at him like he was crazy, then looked at her like she was an item from outer space, and it made her want to turn invisible.

"Are ya gonna stand there all day or sit down and eat something?" asked Natsu with a raised brow.

Jumping at his statement, Lucy snapped out of her stupor and moved to sit down next to Natsu awkwardly with her lunchbox in hand.

Natsu's friends also snapped out of it when Lucy sat down and bombarded Natsu with questions.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what the actual fuck pyro?!" yelled his friend with shaggy raven hair, for some reason his shirt was unbuttoned exposing his extremely muscular chest, making Lucy nervously avert her eyes.

"Yeah, you can't just bring a girl up in here like it's nothing new and expect us to go along with it!" yelled his other friend with waist length black hair and piercings for eyebrows, and a few in other places too.

"Why in the hell not?" asked Natsu with a bored expression as he unwrapped his store-bought sandwich.

"For starters you could tell us who the fuck she is! I know she's not your girlfriend, and she's too hot to be related to your dumb ass" said the short haired friend; who was now removing his shirt entirely.

' _Is this a normal thing? Does he not know he's taking his clothes off?'_ thought Lucy with a blush.

"Hey! The fuck Gray?! You trying to start a fight?!" yelled Natsu angrily while waving his fist in the air.

' _Ah, so his name is Gray… is he unbuckling his pants now?!_ ' thought Lucy in shock as he in fact did start unbuckling his pants.

"Oi stripper, put your clothes back on before bunny girl here screams or something. Your about to take your pants off" said the long haired boy without a care as he took a bite out of his lunch.

"Ah crap!" yelled Gray while gathering his clothes in a rush.

"Bunny girl?" asked Lucy in confusion.

"Ah, it talks" said Gajeel in amusement.

"Fuck off Gajeel. And why the hell are you calling Lucy 'Bunny girl'?" asked Natsu in annoyance.

"Well for starters; you never introduced her to us you retard, and second; her lunchbox's got bunnies all over it, the name was inevitable" said Gajeel like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lucy flushed in embarrassment, so what if her lunchbox had bunnies on it. Bunnies are cute!

She then glanced at Gajeel's lunchbox and raised a brow at what she saw.

"Are you seriously judging me for having a lunchbox covered in bunnies when yours is covered with kittens?" she asked with an amused look.

Natsu and Gray burst out laughing while Gajeel flushed in embarrassment and growled angrily.

"I forgot to clean the dishes and this was the only one I had left! I didn't have a choice!" Gajeel defended angrily.

Lucy tried to stifle a laugh, "Whatever you say; cat-boy" she said with a giggle.

Natsu and Gray fell over they were laughing so hard while Gajeel looked like he wanted to kill someone.

"If you're looking for a beating Bunny girl keep going. I aint afraid to hit a girl" he said menacingly while lifting his fist.

Lucy swallowed nervously and went back to nibbling on her lunch.

"Oi metal face. Threaten her again and I won't go easy on ya" said Natsu who suddenly sobered up from his laughing fit and glared threateningly at Gajeel making him flinch.

"Tch, whatever" he said with a scoff and scarfed down the rest of his lunch.

Gray was still chuckling a little and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

"Ah man, if she can rip into Gajeel like that then she can hang with us no problem" said Gray as he sent a smile in Lucy's direction.

"Since flame brain didn't introduce us; Hi, I'm Gray" he said as he stuck his hand out for her to shake.

Lucy hesitantly took it and smiled softly "I'm Lucy"

"Don't hold on too long Lucy, his stripping habit is contagious" said Natsu with a grumble.

"Oi!" yelled Gray angrily.

"Actually, maybe you should hold on longer" thought Natsu out loud with a pink face.

"You pervert!" yelled Lucy in embarrassment as she smacked his shoulder.

They all started laughing then, and for the first time Lucy found herself enjoying the company of other people. She smiled softly.

"Lucy!?"

Suddenly the door to the roof was slammed open and standing in the doorway was a panting Levy, looking worried and terrified.

"Oh Levy, you found me" said Lucy with a smile.

Levy immediately glomped Lucy and held her so tight she was struggling to breath.

"Oh thank God, I thought he was gonna rape you or something!" yelled Levy with tears going down her face.

Natsu spat out his food and looked horrified at Levy.

"What the fuck!? What kind of guy do you think I am?!" yelled Natsu indignantly.

"I don't know! What was I supposed to think when you suddenly dragged my friends off to some undisclosed location without a word!? It was a perfectly logical conclusion!" yelled Levy angrily while she held on to Lucy.

Natsu blanched at this "W-Well, I wouldn't do that to her so there!" he said childishly.

"Why you-"

"Hey don't I know you?" asked Gajeel curiously.

Levy looked at him and blushed madly while fidgeting with her hands.

"Nooo…" she said softly as she turned her head in embarrassment.

Gajeel was staring at Levy with a hard look, as if trying to remember something.

He snapped his fingers suddenly.

"Your that shrimp that fell on me in the library the other day!" he shouted in realization.

"Oh God kill me now" said Levy covering her face in embarrassment.

"What's he talking about Levy?" asked Lucy in confusion.

"And since when do you even know where the library is?" asked Gray with a raised brow.

"Piss off ice boy" said Gajeel angrily.

"Well, I was trying to get a book from the top shelf, and you know how rickety that ladder can be. I almost got the book when the ladder suddenly collapsed and I fell off" said Levy nervously.

"Oh my God" said Lucy in shock.

"Only instead of hitting the floor I fell on top of him" she said while pointing blushingly at Gajeel.

Gajeel grunted "Your just lucky I saw you falling in time" he said with a smirk.

"Well if you knew how to catch a person properly then maybe I would consider it luck!" she yelled in embarrassment.

"Not my fault your butt ended up on my face" grumbled Gajeel as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh God, can we please stop talking about this!?" yelled Levy in embarrassment.

"So that's why you never mentioned it" muttered Lucy with a sly smirk.

"It's not funny Lu!" yelled Levy angrily.

"He didn't see your underwear did he?" whispered Lucy with a curious look.

Levy only answered her with a full blown blush, it could be compared to the student council presidents hair her cheeks were so red.

Lucy squealed in shock and Levy just covered her face in embarrassment.

"I still don't know how you ended up in a library, were you lost or something?" asked Gray in confusion, oblivious to the girls' conversation.

"Why I was there is none of your business stripper" said Gajeel with a grumble.

"Guess I'm gonna have to beat it out of you then" said Gray as he landed a punch on Gajeel's face suddenly.

"Fuck! You bastard!" yelled Gajeel as he punched Gray in the face.

They continued to brawl while the girls just looked at them like they were crazy and Natsu just carried on eating his sandwich like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Is lunch always this crazy with you guys?" asked Lucy curiously while leaning in to Natsu.

Natsu chuckled and sent her a grin that made her insides feel tingly "Yup, better get used to it".

"Wha-?"

"Well you're gonna be hanging with us during lunch, it's the best way for me to protect ya" he said with a smirk.

Lucy was wide-eyed, for him to go this far to protect her… he must really want his grades to go up if he's this determined, that's the only reason… right?

Lucy shook her head at her crazy ideas and just smiled at Natsu gratefully.

Natsu blushed slightly at her smile; it was so cute he hoped she would do it more often.

"Your friend can come too, since she's already so close with metal face anyway" he said with a cheeky smirk.

"Oh God, I wanna die!" yelled Levy as she hid her face behind her hands.

"Screw you pyro!" yelled Gajeel as he punched Natsu in the face.

Natsu cackled and joined in Gray and Gajeel's fight that lasted until the bell ending lunch rang.

* * *

Lucy found herself smiling as she made her way back to class, not only did she have lunch without worrying about people 'bumping' into her and making her food fall on the floor but for once they weren't even trying to trip her in the halls, or make eye contact.

Levy would admit she was impressed by how well Natsu held up his end of the deal, and admitted that she may have been wrong about him earlier.

Maybe this would turn out even better than Lucy thought it would…

"So let me get this straight, THIS… is your house?!" yelled Natsu in shock.

"Yeah… Levy had a similar reaction too…" said Lucy sheepishly as she punched in the code for her hom- MANSIONS, giant security gate.

Lucy had told Natsu that they were going to start his study session at her house after school, and he was more than happy to comply. He wanted to know more about Lucy, she seemed like a great person and her reactions to his shenanigans- as she called them- were just hilarious, he wished he knew what was wrong with the people from his school, if they had just taken the time to get to know her they would see that what they were doing to her was just awful and undeserving.

The walk to her place was long so he decided to entertain himself by telling Lucy all the corny jokes he knew- a lot surprisingly- and trying to get her to laugh. He couldn't help but find the sound of it enjoyable as well as contagious.

She was in stitches by the time her mansion was in sight, Natsu thought they were lost when he looked around the neighbourhood; it was obviously catered to the more wealthy social groups and he gaped at every house they walked by, and when they finally got to Lucy's house his jaw practically fell on the floor; it was the biggest one there.

Suffice to say his reaction to her house made her sober up from her laughing fit real quick and shifted to reserved and silent.

"Well, come on in" she said without enthusiasm as the gate opened.

Natsu; still stupefied, followed her in and up to her front door.

"Are you like, related to the King or something?" he asked after his long silence as she opened her front door.

"No, but I am friends with Princess Hisui" she said like it wasn't a big deal.

Fiore was one of the few countries on the world that still had a monarchy. They live in the countries capital, Crocus, and are very well loved amongst the people.

"What?! That's so awesome!" said Natsu with an excited look as he walked through Lucy's front door.

Lucy giggled at his excited reaction, it was better than having him freak out about her connections and being afraid of her. The last time that happened Lucy never saw that person again.

"Well here we are, Case de Heartfilia" she said with a wave motion of her hand.

"What?" said Natsu with a confused expression.

Lucy sweat dropped at this, teaching him might be a lot harder than she thought.

"I think we should start with your foreign languages first" she said as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him upstairs to her room.

"Uh, sure" he said as he marveled at her house while letting her drag him.

While her house was huge and fancy he noticed that it was too much for so few people. There was nobody around; it just felt so empty and lonely.

' _Does Lucy have to come home to this every day?'_

* * *

"So, where are your parents?" asked Natsu as he sat a little awkwardly in the middle of her room by her desk.

Lucy was shuffling through her closet for something- Natsu had no idea what- and glanced at him.

"My dad's out of town on a business trip for about a week, and mom died a long time ago" she said the last part sadly as she grabbed a shirt.

Natsu's eye's widened slightly; he was not expecting that at all.

"Ah, my bad" he said awkwardly. What are you supposed to say in situations like this anyway?!

"No worries. Ok, I'm just gonna change real quick and then we can get to studying, alright?" she asked with a small smile.

While she wasn't comfortable talking about her mother with just anyone she was glad he didn't say the clichéd 'I'm sorry for your loss' to her.

"Sure, take your time" said Natsu with a grin.

Lucy nodded her head and made her way into her bathroom to change.

Natsu sits around for a while just glancing around her room. It was pretty big but not unnecessarily so, she had a large bookshelf on one side of her room that was filled with tons of books it could pass for a small library. Her closet was pretty big too but Natsu expected as much from a girl anyway. She had a large queen sized bed next to the window that looked extremely comfortable that Natsu wanted to jump in and sleep in it right then and there. Then there was a drawer next to her closet that held God knows what, and her desk that Natsu was currently sitting by.

Unable to control his curious urges he got up from his seat and went straight for her drawer.

' _Let's see what we've got hiding in here_ ' he thought with a mischievous grin.

He regretted his action immediately after opening the first drawer. Why?

It was her underwear drawer.

He blushed so hard he was sure that steam was leaking out of his ears. These were no cutsie panties that he figured she'd wear, oh no. These were lacy provocative panties in all colours, red, black, white, and purple. It was too much for him to take in. After a minute he snapped out of his shock and slammed her drawer shut, if he stared at them any longer he would be branded a pervert for the rest of his life. He was kind of nervous to check the second and third drawer but Natsu was not a quitter!

The second drawer wasn't much different from the first much to Natsu's dismay, as it was where Lucy stored her bras, and each one matched a pair of her panties. This time Natsu slowly closed her drawer and took a small step back from it.

To suddenly crouch down and start scratching his head vigorously.

' _Aaahh! I am never gonna get that image out of my fucking head! Why did I have to keep looking!? Just what bra size is she?!'_ he thought in embarrassment.

Deciding that maybe just once in his life he'd give up on something, he went back to her desk and sat down with his hands covering his face in embarrassment.

' _To think, I was defeated by lace of all things_ ' he thought completely horrified.

Taking a breath he glanced over the contents of Lucy's desk, he wasn't afraid of finding anything weird there, I mean what could he possibly find on a girls desk, right?

He saw a stack of papers and picked then up to see what they were, thinking it was school work or something. Only he found the first page was some kind of working title for a story.

' _The Journey for the Clock?'_

Natsu skimmed through more pages and for once in his life he found himself interested in a book. The main protagonist was a guy who could use fire magic and he was trying to save the girl he loves who got kidnapped for some evil scheme to manipulate time or something. The main character; Haru was super awesome in Natsu's opinion, although he seemed pretty dense when it came to Ellie; the girl he loved.

' _Can a guy really be that dense when it comes to chicks? It's so frustrating to read about these guys, are they gonna get together in the end?!'_ thought Natsu as he read through the notes.

He then hears the door to Lucy's bathroom open and sees her walk out in her casual clothes that somehow managed to make her look even cuter, in Natsu's opinion.

Lucy looks up and sees what's in Natsu's hands, dropping her uniform on the floor she screams, making Natsu wince.

Next thing he knows, she's running towards him and punches him square in the face, grabs her papers and clutches them to her chest like they are her greatest treasure.

"Ouch! Fuck Lucy, you didn't have ta punch me!" yelled Natsu as he held his throbbing cheek. He was surprised she could hit so hard, she was a lot tougher than he originally thought.

Once he recovered from the shock he takes in her appearance; she was blushing, cheeks puffed up and she was glaring at him like he committed a crime.

It was the most adorable thing he had ever seen.

"Like hell I didn't! Don't just go around reading other peoples personal private things!" she yelled angrily as she glared at him.

"I don't see what the big deal is. It's very good, I'm impressed you write so great, is there more?" asked Natsu enthusiastically.

Lucy blushed hard, this was the first time someone besides Levy had complimented her writing, but for some reason when it came from Natsu it made her heart flutter and her stomach twist.

"Th-thank you, Natsu" she said with a shy blush as she averted her gaze to the floor.

Natsu cleared his throat feeling nervous all of a sudden "Sure, no problem" he said bashfully.

They stay in their places for a while, awkward tension filling the air, neither one knowing what to do now.

Lucy suddenly clears her throat and rubs her arm awkwardly.

"We should probably get started with your studying. I need to have some idea of what I'm working with" she said with a small smile.

Natsu grins sheepishly and nods his head in agreement.

"Yosh, I'm all fired up now!" he said with an enthusiastic fist pump.

Lucy giggled at this and made a mental note to save that expression for her novel; it was pretty catchy.

"Ok, let's begin"

* * *

Lucy could not believe how bad Natsu's grades were!

No wonder they wanted to hold him back, and he had the attention span of a squirrel!

"How did you even make it to senior year?" she asked incredulously.

Natsu shrugged and turned his head in embarrassment "Just lucky like that I guess, maybe I was related to some genius in a past life or something?" he thought out loud.

Lucy deadpanned "If that were true you could sure use those genes right now, coz you have your work cut out for you" she said exasperatedly as she went through his answers for the worksheet she compiled for him.

Natsu mumbled something incoherently and folded his arms with an annoyed huff.

"Well, it's not that you don't know the work that much, the problem seems to be your lack of focus on the paper in front of you. If we work on that and a few fundamentals you should be able to get your grades up in no time" she said with a smile.

Natsu was in a state of shock, she didn't call him an idiot, or a moron. She just said that he lacked focus; that meant he was sort of smart but just lazy, right?

It was the first time someone had said that to him. He felt his heart start to speed up suddenly and his face heat up at her words.

"You really think I'm not stupid?" he asked in a low tone with his gaze focused on the floor.

Lucy looked at him questioningly, then smiled softly at him.

"While you are probably the most crazy person I have ever met, 'stupid' is not a word I would use to describe you. All you need is motivation, like for every correct answer you get a piece of candy or something you like to eat and I can prove to you just how smart you really are" she said with a determined grin.

Natsu blinked and then cracked a bright grin that made Lucy's heart flutter again.

"You're really nice ya know Lucy?" he said with pink tinted cheeks.

Lucy blushed and turned her head away from his heated gaze.

"A-Anyway, let's pick up from where we left off…" she said nervously.

They got back to work studying, but each had one thought floating in the back of their heads that just wouldn't go away.

' _How is it that you make my heart beat so fast when I've only known you for two days?'_

 **Chapter 2 will be up tomorrow, in the meantime please tell me what ya thought so far with a review, love ya! ^3^**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

 **I'm truly amazed by the great response this story is getting! Thank you all so much, here's hoping you like the 2** **nd** **chapter even better!**

 **Please leave a review, and I just might make a third chapter XD**

A few months had passed since then and Natsu was making steady progress with his studying and his grades. His teachers had suspected that he was somehow cheating at first but after some observation they were shocked to find that he was not.

After Natsu's warning in her classroom nobody ever bothered her again, in fact some of them had even started being nice to her much to her shock. She became friends with Gray and Gajeel, and even Erza since they ran into each other a lot whenever Natsu got into fights with the two boys.

For the first time she was having fun at school and not just using her free time to study or read, she was either texting Natsu when she could or hanging out with her new friends; she was surprised by the fact that Erza liked girly things considering how tough and strict she was in school.

Natsu and Lucy had gotten closer as they studied together. Natsu found out more about Lucy and her past, he found he didn't like her dad very much; the guy was always away from home, and even when he was there the guy had no time to spare to even say so much as 'Hi there' to Lucy. It made him want to sock the guy right in the nose. Lucy found out more about Natsu as well, about how he was sent to an orphanage at the tender age of 2, and how he was adopted by his dad Igneel at 5 and has been living with him ever since. They had formed a unique connection in such a short time together, they wondered why they hadn't spoken to each other sooner and with better circumstances.

Natsu and Lucy were at his house studying now. When Natsu first introduced Lucy to his dad he regretted it immediately coz since then his dad has not stopped teasing him about her every chance he got. Even his own cat looked at him teasingly.

' _Damn you Happy'_

He glanced up from the worksheet he was busy with to sneak a peek at Lucy's face. She looked so focused while she studied, like the rest of the world was blocked out and only her work mattered; she looked the same whenever she was writing too, Natsu noted.

"Hey Lucy, can I ask you something?"

Lucy looked up from her work and regarded him curiously.

"What's up? You stuck on a question?" she asked as she attempted to pull his worksheet and have a look at it.

"No, not that. Um, I was just wondering… why do you study so hard? I mean I figured you'd inherit your dad's company when you graduate anyway so I was just wondering why you even try?" he asked while nervously rubbing the back of his head, he knew her dad was a sensitive topic and he didn't want to upset her.

Lucy scowled slightly, she then sighed exasperatedly and put down her pencil. She folded her arms on the table and focused all her attention on Natsu.

"To tell you the truth Natsu, I don't want to inherit my dad's company" she started, Natsu pushed all his work to the side and listened to Lucy intently.

"Really?"

"Uhuh. See I don't want to live my life relying on him and his money, he can keep it all as far as I'm concerned. I want to apply for a scholarship to Magnolia U so that I can become a writer, and if I get it I plan on moving out, finding my own place and get a job to pay for it myself" she said determinately.

Natsu's eyes were wide. She really wanted to go that far to become independent? Lucy was amazing.

"Wow Lucy, you really wanna move out that bad?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

Lucy nodded her head slowly "I can't let him control me anymore Natsu, I want to live my own life and make decisions for myself. I know I'll make mistakes and stumble along the way but at least then I would learn and grow to become a better person. Well, at least that's what my mother used to tell me" she said with a sad smile.

Natsu was in awe. This girl was willing to give up her whole lifestyle just to do the things she dreamed of doing. How could one person be so strong?

"You know something Lucy, you're a pretty amazing person" he said with a tender smile and pink cheeks.

Lucy blushed at this "There you go again saying stuff like that so suddenly, it's so embarrassing…" she muttered.

Natsu chuckled lightly, that blush was the last straw for him. He had his suspicions for a while but today he finally confirmed it…

' _I have officially fallen for you Lucy Heartfilia'_

* * *

"What do you mean you're gonna be late?" Lucy asked questioningly.

Natsu scratched the back of his head sheepishly "Well I kinda got called back by my Chemistry teacher".

Lucy sent him a deadpanned look "What did you do?"

Natsu chuckled and swallowed nervously "Well… I may have… sorta… burnt his eyebrows off…?" he said looking anywhere but in her eyes.

Lucy tried to hold back a snort at this and covered her mouth to stop laughing.

"Oh God, seriously? How bad does he look?" she asked with a giggle.

Natsu grinned "Let's just say it's not a look his wife will be happy with".

"Oh Natsu, what am I gonna do with you?" she asked with a sigh as she rubbed his head affectionately.

Natsu laughed with pink cheeks "So you're ok to wait for me for a few minutes? He's probably gonna go over fire safety tips with me… again" he said with an exasperated sigh.

Lucy giggled at his misfortune "Sure I can wait, I'll be by the school gates ok?" she said with a smile.

"Awesome, see ya later" he said as he walked off to his chemistry class.

Lucy waved at him as he left then made her way outside.

She sighed to herself as she walked along the almost empty halls. She couldn't believe finals were just around the corner already, which meant she wouldn't need to help Natsu anymore and they wouldn't need to visit each other. Lucy frowned at this, she had grown so close to Natsu, and shared some of her deepest secrets with him that not even Levy knew about. Not to mention how nervous he made her, especially when he smiled at her and those embarrassing compliments he gave her.

She wasn't an idiot, she had read enough romance novels and watched enough sappy movies to know what she was feeling. She had fallen for the cherry haired pyromaniac, and she had fallen hard.

She sighed in disappointment, her main problem was that she wasn't sure he would ever feel the same way about her. She didn't know if he was only with her for so long already just because of the deal she made with him.

As she reached the school gate she checked the time on her cell phone, she would have to wait at least a few more minutes until he could come out. Mr Totomaru already had enough problems with Natsu as it is, having his eyebrows burnt off just gave him the opportunity to yell at him without question.

Lucy was pulled out of her musings by the sound of screeching tires and a roaring engine. A black Sudan pulled up in front of her suddenly, Lucy's eyes were wide with shock. Suddenly two guys dressed in black with sunglasses on jumped out of the back seat and made their way towards her.

"That's Heartfilia right?"

"No mistake, lets grab her and go"

Lucy started panicking. These guys screamed 'dangerous', and it looks like they were after her. Without a seconds hesitation she started running away from them and screaming for help.

But everyone who could hear her or see her refused to even look her way; these people were still the same, selfish and uncaring.

Lucy felt herself tearing up in fear. She didn't know who these men were or what they wanted from her, if she had to guess she would say they were kidnappers trying to extort a ransom for her from her father.

One of the guys managed to catch up and latched onto her arm roughly making her wince in pain.

"Come quietly and we'll make it hurt a lot less than it should" sneered the man as he pulled her towards him.

Lucy pulled and tugged trying to pry the man's hand off her but it was no use, she was getting closer and closer to the black car.

Just as she was about to be pushed through the door she screamed the one name on her mind.

"NATSU!"

* * *

Natsu wanted to tear his own ears off he was so annoyed. Mr Totomaru kept going on and on about how reckless and irresponsible he was, and how he should be paying for the emotional damages he inflicted on him by burning his eyebrows off.

Natsu scoffed internally; this guy was pissing him off and he knew it too. Just making him take up his free time when he could be with Lucy instead.

Natsu sighed to himself in frustration; he knew he had feelings for Lucy, the question was did she have any for him. Was she only hanging around him coz he protected her? He liked to think that they were each other's best friends at least. She knew so much about him, and he about her. There was a chance that she shared the same feelings right?

He was distracted from his internal worries at the sound of screaming from outside, he glanced out the window and felt all the air leave his lungs, his heart stopped for a second and his face paled.

He saw Lucy running away from some guys dressed in black suits, fear reflected in her eyes as she tried to get as far away from them as possible. And nobody was even bothering to try and save her.

Natsu felt his fists clench so hard he broke skin, his brows furrowed in anger and his vision turned red.

"Dragneel are you listening to me?! This is why your fail- WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

Natsu completely ignored his teacher and opened the classroom window, where he planned to jump from to get to Lucy.

He put his foot on the edge of the open window and prepped himself to jump.

"Are you mad boy!? This is the third floor!" yelled Mr Totomaru in a panic as he tried to grab onto Natsu…

But he was too late.

Natsu jumped out the window and aimed to land on the patch of grass nearby. He landed in a couched position and glared in Lucy's direction in blind fury.

' _How dare they touch Lucy, I'll make em pay!'_

He ran as fast as humanly possible to Lucy and saw that she was getting scarily close to a black car waiting at the schools front gates.

"Come quietly and we'll make it hurt a lot less than it should"

Natsu felt his anger reach its limit after hearing this; that's what he gets for having dog-like hearing abilities. He was worried he wouldn't make it in time, she was only getting closer and closer to the car. He felt fear coil in his stomach for the first time in his life and he didn't like it one bit.

"NATSU!"

Hearing Lucy scream his name like that fueled Natsu with an incredible energy he had never felt before. Of all people to scream for help she chose him, it filled him with a powerful desire to protect her with his life if she needed it.

With a speed even he didn't know he had he was right in front of the man holding Lucy and landed a powerful punch to the man's jaw, effectively knocking him away a few feet.

He saw Lucy's tear stained eyes land on him in shock and relief, but before he went to comfort her he had to take care of the other man trying to revive his knocked out companion.

"Get up you idiot, if you go to jail you're on your own!"

"You son of a bitch… putting your filthy hands on Lucy like that… I'm gonna beat ya within an inch of your life" said Natsu while cracking his knuckles and sending the man a death glare.

The man 'eeped' in fear and broke out in a cold sweat. He left his comrade and scrambled to get back to his car.

Natsu was about to run after him but stopped when he felt trembling hands circle his waist in a terrified embrace.

"Please stop Natsu, its ok, I'm ok now, you saved me" said Lucy in a trembling voice.

Natsu felt his whole body relax at her touch, he turned to face her and wrapped his arms around her to hold her tight.

"Thank God, I got to you in time" he said into her hair as he took a deep breath in relief.

Lucy chuckled tearfully and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah you did, thank you Natsu"

Natsu held on even tighter, afraid she would slip from his grip and disappear.

"Anything for you Lucy"

She blushed at this but didn't move, neither did he. They were content to hold each other and have this moment for themselves.

Eventually Lucy let go, much to Natsu's disappointment, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"We better report this, man when my dad hears about this it'll be hell" muttered Lucy in annoyance.

She wanted to pull out her cell phone but remembered that it broke when she tried to run away earlier, she cursed under her breath and asked Natsu if she could borrow his, which he was only happy to oblige.

She dialled a number and waited for an answer.

"Hello Capricorn? Yeah it's Lucy… Well sort of… Some guys tried to sorta kidnap me… No no no, I'm fine! Natsu saved me and knocked one of them out! Yeah… yeah he's unconscious and in front of the building… yeah… ok, I'll be home soon… fine, but please don't tell daddy! Please? Thanks, I'll see you at home… ok, bye"

She ended the call and sighed in relief.

"Well? Everything alright?" asked Natsu in concern.

Lucy handed Natsu his phone back and put her hand on her hip.

"For now anyway, Capricorn's on his way to 'collect' the kidnapper, so to speak. In the meantime he wants you to walk me home to make sure I get there safe, is that ok?" she asked with a shy look that made Natsu's insides swirl.

He grinned at her and picked up her school bag form the floor, "Course it is Lucy! I was gonna walk ya without being asked anyway"

Lucy blushed at this and smiled a softly.

Her blush then intensified when Natsu picked her up and began to carry her like a princess.

"Natsu! What the hell are you doing?!" she yelled in a panic and wrapped her arms around his neck to prevent herself from falling on the floor.

"What? Your arm is hurt right? Capricorn would kill me if I let you walk while you were injured" he said with a cheeky grin and pink tinted cheeks.

"I didn't hurt my legs idiot!" she yelled in embarrassment.

Natsu chuckled and continued on. But before he walked out of the gates he went up to the knocked out kidnapper and gave him a swift kick in the stomach for good measure.

Nodding in satisfaction he walked off with a bright grin on his face while Lucy tried to hide her red one.

"Ya know Lucy… you weigh a lot more than I thought you would"

"IDIOT!"

* * *

An air of awkwardness surrounded Natsu and Lucy since that day, and they had no idea what to do about it. And it really only started after they got to her house that day…

 _Natsu carried Lucy all the way to her house, even after she slapped him for making a comment on her weight. And brought her up to her bedroom where she could rest._

 _She insisted she was fine but stopped her protests when Natsu put a bit of pressure on her bruised wrist. Natsu dug out the first aid kit and began fixing up her arm while she sat on the bed in silence._

 _Lucy's eyes suddenly felt heavy and she felt herself drifting to sleep as Natsu wrapped her wrist. When Natsu finished he saw she was sleeping upright and he chuckled lightly at how cute she looked._

 _He pulled her covers back and settled her into bed. After making sure she was comfortable he tried to get up and go to his bag but was stopped by a tug on his shirt._

' _Natsu… don't go…' muttered Lucy in a sleepy haze._

 _Natsu blushed slightly and sat down beside her bed. Lucy smiled in her sleep and sighed in relief as he did so._

 _Natsu was becoming overwhelmed by his feelings for her, it took everything he had not to jump into her bed and hold her close to him._

' _Damn it Lucy, what are you doin to me?' whined Natsu in his hands._

 _Feeling his own eyes drooping he eventually succumbed to sleep as well._

 _He didn't know how it happened, all he knew was that when he woke up he was on Lucy's bed and his arms were wrapped around her waist._

 _He looked at her sleeping face and smiled as he pushed some of her hair out of the way. Her eyes scrunched together and she slowly began to open them. Natsu wasn't sure how she was gonna react when she noticed him, but he knew it wasn't gonna be good for him._

' _Natsu?' she said groggily._

 _Natsu grinned sheepishly and gave a nervous laugh._

' _Oh my, I didn't know you had company Princess'_

 _Lucy's maid Virgo suddenly barged in and had a very sly look on her face which only served to fuel Lucy's embarrassment further as she sputtered and sat up a quick as lightning._

' _No-wait Virgo, its not-'_

' _Fufufu, you liiike him' she said as she covered her mouth to hold back her snickers._

 _Lucy screamed in frustration and swiftly kicked Virgo out of her room. She then sent Natsu a glare that made him shiver in fear, so he did the only logical thing he could think of…_

' _Well look at the time, guess I should get home before Igneel kills me… see ya Lucy!'_

' _Use the door you idiot!'_

Since then they have been unable to look each other in the eye, their friends could even tell something was up but refused to comment on it for their sake.

They couldn't even have conversations with each other without blushing like Japanese school girls.

Levy found the whole thing adorable while Gray and Gajeel just wanted to puke.

"What should I do Levy? I can't even look him in the eye anymore!" whined Lucy as she walked with Levy to her nest class.

Levy rolled her eyes, "I fail to see what the problem is, I mean you both like each other anyway, why not just confess and finally make it official" said Levy with a raised brow.

Lucy groaned into her hands and felt herself blush madly.

"Its not that simple Lev, I don't know if he even really likes me"

Levy stopped in her tracks and sent Lucy a look as if she was crazy.

"Are you blind Lu!? Of course he likes you, I'd go as far as to say he's in love with you!" yelled Levy while grabbing Lucy's shoulders.

"But what if its all an act!?" yelled Lucy with furrowed brows.

Levy blinked dumbly and tried to process what Lucy had said.

"What?"

"I mean, the whole reason we spoke to each other in the first place was because I promised to help him with his grades. I don't know if I can take all the things he does as genuine or not" said Lucy sadly.

"Oh Lu" said Levy sympathetically.

"The only way I'll know for sure is when finals are over and there's no deal connecting us anymore. So until then I won't say anything" she said determinately.

Levy sighed and cast a sympathetic look to Lucy.

"Alright Lu, if you say so"

* * *

"Will you cut that out?" said Gray with an annoyed look.

"What?" asked Natsu in annoyance.

"Stop banging your head against the vending machine! I can't pick my soda!" yelled Gray in annoyance.

"Oh poor Gray, can't go without soda, go get your nuts frozen" muttered Natsu in annoyance as he continued to bang his head.

Gray and Gajeel raised their brows at his response, normally he would have picked a fight right then and there but this… this was so un-Natsu.

"Ok, I can't take it anymore. What the hell is wrong with you?" asked Gajeel in annoyance.

Natsu stopped banging his head and looked at Gajeel with dead eyes.

"I can't look Lucy in the eye anymore, and she won't look in mine either" he said gruffly.

The guys sighed loudly in annoyance, they were so sick of this guy's idiocy.

"Dude, just confess to her already, its obvious you like each other, she's stuck with ya this long without running away hasn't she?" said Gray in annoyance as he grabbed his soda from the vending machine.

"Its not that simple ice brains!" yelled Natsu in aggravation.

"The hell its not" grumbled Gajeel as he took a sip of his drink.

"Dude at this rate Gajeel will have hooked up with Levy before you confess"

Gajeel spat out his drink and blushed madly at the snickering Gray.

"The fuck Stripper!"

Gray was laughing madly as he clutched his stomach.

"Oh man your even blushing! This is rich!"

Gajeel and Gray started fighting while Natsu went back to bashing his head on the vending machine.

"Thanks for listening guys, I feel much better" muttered Natsu sarcastically.

' _Does she like me, or is this all because of the deal?'_

* * *

"Natsu, I don't think we should see each other anymore"

Natsu blinked until Lucy's words sunk in, then he felt panic seep into his gut.

"Huh?" he asked dumbly.

"Well since finals start tomorrow I need to focus on my own studying for a while, so until they're over I think we should only focus on studying"

Natsu let out a sigh of relief, he was worried she didn't want to see him ever again, he was about to have a heart attack for a second there.

"Oh, uhm, sure I guess that makes sense"

"Great, also… well, that is… after the last exam… there's something I-I kinda wanna tell you… s-so make sure you stay after school that day!" she yelled as she ran away with a blush on her cheeks.

Natsu blinked and grinned at her disappearing figure, she was just too cute.

' _I kinda have something to tell you too Lucy'_

* * *

Finals in Magnolia High were hell. If you didn't study like your life depended on it you were doomed to fail from the start. Some students even left crying their eyes out they were so terrifying.

Luckily Natsu and Lucy were not one of those people. Due to their intense studying and great teamwork they figured they did very well with their exams.

Natsu was a little worried about his friends since they were idiots, but found out that Levy was asked to tutor them by a red faced Gajeel. Natsu wished he was there to see that, and it earned Levy a lot of teasing from Lucy when she found out.

Natsu stretched his arms out as he finished his last exam, relief filled him as he would no longer have to worry about writing anymore, now he just had to wait for the results. He would be worried but he trusted Lucy's teachings so he just had to suck it up and wait.

He switched his cell phone back on and found that he had a text from Lucy, looks like she sent it a minute before he switched it on.

' _Meet me on the roof where we eat lunch'_

Natsu swallowed nervously, he had no idea what she wanted to talk about. Hopefully it wasn't something too bad, he still needed to tell her how he felt and if she sent him away now he was sure he would shatter.

"Hey man, me and metal face are on our way to the arcade to celebrate the end of finals, you in?" asked Gray as he walked to Natsu's desk.

Natsu got up from his chair and slung his bag over his shoulder and shot Gray a nervous smile.

"Can't I'm meeting up with Lucy, later" he said as he walked robotically out of the classroom.

Gray stared at Natsu in confusion which turned to shock as he realised what Natsu meant with that nervous look.

"What's up with the flaming robot?" questioned Gajeel with a raised brow.

"I think he's gonna confess" said Gray in a disbelieving tone.

Gajeel choked on his spit and stared at Natsu in shock.

"You fucking with me Fullbuster?"

"Nope, he's got that look on his face, he's definitely gonna do it" said Gray with a serious nod of his head.

Gajeel stared at Natsu a bit longer then cleared his throat and slowly made his way out of the classroom.

"Well… uhm… scuse me for a sec"

Gray raised a brow at his sudden strange behaviour then grinned slyly.

"Don't tell me you're so petty that you'd confess to Levy before Natsu just to beat him"

Gajeel flinched in his spot then made sure to look everywhere but at Gray.

"No idea what you're talking about"

Gray laughed at this "You are! Oh man can I watch you crash and burn?"

"Shut up you bastard!"

* * *

Natsu had never felt more nervous in his entire life. His heart was pounding like crazy and he felt a sudden urge to hurl. His legs were shaking and his hands were trembling.

Deciding to pull himself together he punched himself in the face and took a deep breath before finally opening the door to the roof. The sight before him took his breath away.

Lucy was leaning on the railing and staring at the ground below, the sun directly in front of her figure and the breeze making her hair and skirt flow elegantly. She looked like an angel and Natsu was afraid the ground beneath his feet was going to vanish at the sight.

Natsu swallowed nervously and cleared his now dry throat causing Lucy to turn and smile at him as he made his way towards her.

' _Ok, so far so good, it doesn't look like bad news on her part'_

"Thanks for coming up here Natsu" she said with her hands behind her back and a soft smile.

"No problem Lucy, anything for you" he said with a grin.

Lucy blushed at this and turned her gaze to the ground.

' _Idiot, why do you always have to say stuff like that?_ ' thought Lucy in embarrassment.

"So, you wanted to tell me something right?" asked Natsu nervously as he stuffed his hands in his pocket to stop himself from fidgeting.

Lucy nodded her head numbly and closed her eyes in preparation, she took slow deep breaths and tried to calm her shaky nerves.

' _You can do this Lucy, you didn't practice in front of a mirror like an idiot for nothing!'_

She took one last breath and let her emotions fly.

"I know the main reason we were together was because of the deal we made. You helped me so much and even saved me from kidnappers who would've done god knows what to me…"

Natsu growled at the memory, he was just glad Capricorn dealt with those bastards before he did.

"…But being with you also gave me something I never expected. We became friends and I was never lonely when we were together…"

Natsu smiled at this, he was glad he made her feel that way and he felt the same whenever she was with him.

But now that our deal is over you don't have to hang around me anymore, and I should be ok with that…"

Natsu frowned, he didn't like where this was going; it sounded like she was ok with them no longer being together.

Lucy felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes, she refused to cry though; she would get through this with no tears if it killed her.

"…But the truth is, I don't want you to leave me Natsu" she said in a trembling voice.

Natsu's eyes widened at this, he wanted to say something but held back until Lucy finished.

"I have never felt this way before about anyone. You have become so important to me that I can't even imagine being apart from you for even a day!"

She felt her cheeks heating up and her voice become shaky, she was too afraid to see his reaction so she kept her gaze fixed on the ground in front of him.

Natsu felt his cheeks go hot. Was this really happening? Was the girl he was in love with con-confessing to him?! He thought he was gonna die right there.

"The truth is I-I… I love you Natsu!" she screamed with closed eyes and a red face.

' _Dear Lord I think I can die happy right now'_ thought Natsu.

' _I-I said it, I finally said it!'_ thought Lucy

Lucy refused to open her eyes; she was too afraid of what Natsu would say to look at his reaction.

Natsu had a blank look on his face at first, then he felt his whole face down to his neck go red and a large grin form. His stomach was doing backflips and he was sure his heart was about to explode for sure.

But he realised he hadn't said anything the whole time and Lucy was frozen with her eyes shut, and were those tears in the corner of her eyes?

Puffing out his chest and sucking up every ounce of bravery he had he stalked towards her trembling figure.

Lucy was terrified, confessing was one thing, but having to hear his reply was something she didn't prepare for at all. Her nerves were shot, he was being too quiet for her liking.

' _Did he run away or something? God I'd take rejection any day than this deafening silence, its killing me!'_

Suddenly she felt his figure standing right in front of he and her breath hitched. Suddenly the silence didn't look so bad anymore.

"You are just too cute"

Lucy's eyes shot open instantly and she looked to him in shock.

"Wha-mmph!"

Lucy was silenced by Natsu with a searing kiss. He grabbed her by the back of her head with one hand and wrapped the other around her waist.

Lucy was so deep in shock she forgot how to move, or that she should really be responding to the best and first kiss of her life.

She only managed to snap out of it when she felt Natsu's tongue slowly lick her bottom lip silently asking for entrance.

She closed her eyes and finally responded to his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did so. Natsu sighed into the kiss as their tongues clashed in a heated dance.

Natsu was in a state of bliss, if he had known kissing Lucy would be this amazing he would have done it ages ago. Of course she probably would have received a slap in the face but hey, he was a guy after all.

Lucy had never felt so happy in her life. For her first kiss she could not complain at all, Natsu seemed to know what he was doing and she just followed his lead.

They broke apart for air, their breathing heavy and fast. Natsu put his forehead on Lucy's and sighed in bliss.

"I love you too Lucy" he said with a breathy voice.

Lucy giggled breathily and smiled so bright her cheeks started to hurt.

They held each other close and just basked in their own happiness for a while.

"I think we better get back before they lock up the school" said Natsu with a bright grin.

Lucy pouted and sent him a look "But I'm too happy to move right now"

Natsu dove in for another kiss, this one was softer, shorter and sweeter than the previous one.

Lucy sighed and looked at him dreamily "Ok, let's go"

Natsu laughed loudly and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they made their way to the door.

"Looks like I'm gonna be able to get my way a lot easier now" he said with a grin.

Lucy rolled her eyes and intertwined their hands.

"Just remember that I can just as easily do the same with you, Cherry-head" she said with a cheeky grin.

They grinned like love-sick fools as they made their way back down to their classrooms. As they walked down the halls they noticed that Levy and Gajeel had faces as red as strawberries and refused to look each other in the eyes while Gray was clutching his stomach while laughing like a crazy person.

Their friends turned and noticed that their hands were intertwined and smiled at this. Levy went over to Lucy and gave her the whole 'I told you so' speech while Gajeel was bragging that he confessed before Natsu did; which made Levy blush again and hit him on the shoulder.

Natsu and Lucy looked at each other and smiled blushingly.

As the group made their way to the arcade Natsu and Lucy walked beside each other with intertwined hands and thought to themselves…

'To think this all happened because of a deal'

 **END.**

 **Thanks for reading, please leave a review XD**


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